When Ministers speak there is every reason – under the law and Constitution of the Commonwealth of The Bahamas to presume that they are also for the Cabinet and the prime minister of this great little nation.
We presume that when Minister of Labour and Immigration speaks that he does so not only in his capacity as a Member of Parliament; but also that he is speaking – if only impliedly – on behalf of this nation’s Chief Executive Officer, the Rt. Hon. Prime Minister.
Minister of Labour Shane Gibson recently called for the censure of former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham over his handling of the country’s finances between 2007 and 2012.
This Cabinet Minister wants to see the appointment of a select committee of Parliament to look into such matters. At this juncture, we are quite unaware of the extent to which this call also echoes the sentiments of his colleagues and particularly those of the nation’s Chief Executive, the Rt. Hon. Perry Gladstone Christie.
Whether such a committee is ever appointed is really not an issue for us; and indeed, it might also not be a real issue for the former prime minister, the Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham or any of his most favored minions.
And then, there was that hyperbolic-laden address where another Minister of State for Finance, Michael Halkitis charged that the Ingraham administration spent money like an inebriated marineror a drunken sailor with no plan or provision as to how the spending spree would be paid for. The people did what they thought they had to do concerning whatever the FNM did or failed to do while they were in office.
The rehashing of what we all know concerning FNM gaffes and blunders is today quite beside the point; with that pregnant point having to do with the new PLP led administration’s plans to fix what has been left broken.
How we got to this point is today is nowhere near any of the issues currently bedeviling the Bahamian people. Today, the people are waiting and hoping to learn whether they have what they need in a brand-new Christie led administration.
By the same token, a similar kind of logic also applies to today’s Free National Movement as it is currently being led by D. Hubert Minnis.
This suggests that discussion about how we got to this place where things are so very bad might also not be such a big issue for Killarney’s Dr. Hubert Minnis, Leader of The Free National Movement.
Today we note that the issue we have with this call for a select committee concerns the possible impropriety of such a call.
Indeed, granted its potential for doing even more harm to an already bruised and battered society, we would have thought it most wise for Ministers and their ministries to be up and doing with more than taking expensive strolls down memory lane so as to be given an opportunity to bash Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition.
Such a course of action would be most unwise.
We would advise the current administration to keep its eyes focused on remaining disciplined; that it be seen to be speaking with one voice – and most of all that it understands that The General Elections have come to The Bahamas and elections have gone.
What now remains is the match or mismatch between promises made on the campaign trail and results delivered not only – as promised – over the course of a much-touted “first” one hundred days, but also the very same over the course of the next five years.
In addition, there is no doubting the conclusion that the public’s attention will – of necessity – find itself being trained on word, thought and deed as these come together [or for that matter, fail to do so] in the days, weeks and months ahead from whatever the current prime minister decides to do or decides to leave undone.
If anything is to be left undone that it should not involve ear-marked assistance to children in need of professional care and attention.
Tragically some of these children are bred by people –men and women alike- who are themselves the product of neglect, abuse and parental contempt for their very existence. We can and should do better.
